We will certainly but putting the BBC releases up for discussion when we get around to them... we just won't need to go through the tracks particularly.
This is my first time giving attention to these two songs. "And I Will Love You" - Like @palisantrancho mentioned, the opening lines reminded me of "The Way Love Used To Be." I really like this one! What an odd track for the guys. I wish it sounded better. It could easily fit on Face to Face no problem. Weird organ lurks underneath. I enjoy this vibe. Too bad it was tossed. "All Night Stand" - I don't care for it. The Thoughts version is even more boring. Almost too personal a song to cover. Best verse is: "Forget all this night and all the people on my back / Once I'm free from these chains I ain't never looking back." Just a stream of verses with no break, flourishes, or changes. Not sad it was tossed.
I always hear that line as 'forget all the sh*te'. I mean I know it couldn't be as a song put out in 1966 wouldn't be allowed to use language like that, but it's certainly sung as if that could be that word! Ray finally got around to using it 40 years later in his solo song 'Things Are Gonna Change' (The Morning After).'
I can see that. I hear a definite "n" sound in there, so maybe he's trying to trick us à la "Apeman."
As my Kinkdom fandom started really with '68-'70, and then expanded back to '66 and forward to '71, I never actually listened to any albums prior to '66. I just knew the hits from prior to '66. So my thoughts on their early career and into the current Kontroversy Period is that it's just incredible to listen to their quick progression and how their worked on their songwriting formulas. There was certainly a lot of filler at the start, amongst the gems, but the filler became less and less over their 12-16 months. Hearing the demos, outtakes, etc, shows them experimenting with different musical styles (calypso) and song structures (more folk/strophic). For the most part, I think they scrapped what should have been scrapped, but I do really like "Time Will Tell" and wish that could have been another hit. I can understand artists though feeling a bit upset that things they didn't expect the public to see... get seen by the public. I get the same way when I send a work colleague an internal email, and then they forward that message to a client. That language was meant for internal eyes only! Really looking forward as we enter their golden age here in 66 and that this age will last for the foreseeable future in this thread. There will be times I think each song may deserve it's own day, or at least certain songs at least.
I agree.... Folks wanted to stay two per day, and for the most part we will, but some tracks it will be slightly difficult. What I will likely do is cover a track and it's outtakes etc in some instances, so the track can remain the main focus, but we are still moving along
Back to "And I Will Love You." I went over this again and figured out what is going on. Most pop songs move along in divisions and further subdivisions of 4. This one is in a basic 2/4 or 4/4, but the longer pulses are uneven lengths. If you do a slow count, with each count at slightly more than one second --let's say we think of it as measures of 2/4, half of the drum pattern, and we count the measures -- the pattern is like this: Verse one, starting at the vocal "I Know A Place..." 5 5 4 4 6 4 4 Verse two: 5 4 4 4 6 4 4 Bridge 4 4 4 4 Verse three: 5 5 4 4 6 4 4 then coda. The "6" in each verse could also be subdivided as 4 + 2.
Yeah, I read about this breakdown in one of the biographies, sounded particularly disturbing. He could have walked away at this stage.
I've listened to a couple of the live tracks and they sound fine - The Kinks were clearly a decent live band and a tight unit (which reminds me I've still got to listen to Kelvin Hall some time soon...) As for the Kontroversy period...there are a lot of tracks to enjoy from this period, but we are now entering a phase of wall-to-wall classics. Depending on your point of view at least five great albums in a row coming up now!
A taste of the breakdown during this period: When a performance of The Kinks’ current hit[Dedicated...] was aired on Top Of The Pops, he tried to put the television in the gas oven. Then, on St Patrick’s Day, he unexpectedly rose from his bed in a state of agitation. ‘I was a zombie,’ says Davies. ‘I’d been on the go all the time from when we first made it till then, and I was completely out of my mind.’ From his home in Fortis Green, he ran six miles to Tin Pan Alley in central London, where he confronted and attempted to punch his publicist Brian Sommerville. His next encounter, after he was chased from the premises, was with his music publisher, in whose office he caused further chaos. ‘I don’t know what happened to me,’ says Ray. ‘I’d run into the West End with my money stuffed in my socks; I’d tried to punch my press agent; I was chased down Denmark Street by the police, hustled into a taxi by a psychiatrist and driven off somewhere.’ Page reacted to Ray’s appearance that day with a jaundiced shrug. ‘There was nothing unusual about that. It was like having afternoon tea with Ray. 'When Page informed Curtis of Ray’s ‘breakdown’, he offered the withering response: ‘How would anyone know the difference?’ Davies’ physician prescribed plenty of rest, supplemented by a salad diet and the suggestion, never taken up, that he should join a golf club. A musical diet of Frank Sinatra, Bach, Bob Dylan and classical guitar also helped restore his momentum. ‘It sort of cleaned my mind out and started fresh ideas.’ Ray is a rather complicated chap, eh? Complete article here: Ray Davies on punch-ups, pills and how The Kinks nearly killed him | Daily Mail Online
I may have to pick it up! Does anyone have some favorite Kinks books to recommend? God Save The Kinks: A Biography- Rob Jovanovic- This looks like it may be good. I have read: X-Ray- Ray Davies - It's been a long time though. I probably read it close to 20 years ago. I own it, so I thought might read it again as we go through this thread. You Really Got Me- The Story Of The Kinks- Nick Hasted- This was the most recent book I have read, but I don't remember much about it. I recall it being decent, but not great. Kink- Dave Davies- Read it not long after X-Ray. Another I would like to re-visit.
The Kontroversy Period- A very fine produced and consistent album. This is the Kinks' most consistent and solid album to this point. The listener gets three sides of the band; the beat pop melodic songs, the hard rockin’ songs and finally the folksy-acoustic songs that will envelope the Kinks for the following years. Ray Davies continues to write personal and introspective lyrics. The Kinks have completed their arrival, and they have just finished unpacking their skills. The best is yet to come.
"Sunny Afternoon" Single by the Kinks from the album Face to Face B-side "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" Released 3 June 1966 (UK) July 1966 (US) Recorded 13 May 1966 Studio Pye (No.2), London Genre Rock music hall[1] Length 3:36 Label Pye (UK, 7N 17125)[2] Reprise (US, 0497) Songwriter(s) Ray Davies[2] Producer(s) Shel Talmy[2] mono mix (3:31), recorded 13 May, 1966 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London "Sunny Afternoon" was first written in Ray Davies' house when he was sick. "I'd bought a white upright piano. I hadn't written for a time. I'd been ill. I was living in a very 1960s-decorated house. It had orange walls and green furniture. My one-year-old daughter was crawling on the floor and I wrote the opening riff. I remember it vividly. I was wearing a polo-neck sweater." Davies said of the song as well as its recording: "Sunny Afternoon was made very quickly, in the morning, it was one of our most atmospheric sessions. I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it's superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently—if I had walked around the studio or gone out—it wouldn't have turned out that way. The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and Nicky Hopkins, who was playing piano on that session, was playing "Liza"—we always used to play that song—little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song. At the time I wrote Sunny Afternoon I couldn't listen to anything. I was only playing The Greatest Hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan's Maggie's Farm—I just liked its whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach—it was a strange time. I thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that's in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on Sunny Afternoon. It was a leaf with a very thick outline—a big blob in the background—the leaf just cutting through it." Ah, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze I gotta big fat mama trying to break me Ray Davies explained the lyric to Q: "My mother was quite large. But that also alludes to the government, the British Empire, trying to break people. And they're still doing it... (sighs) How are we going to get out of this f---ing mess?" Weekly charts Chart (1966) Peak position Australia (Go-Set)[13] 37 Australia (Kent Music Report)[14] 13 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[15] 5 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[16] 14 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[17] 11 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[18] 1 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] 7 France (IFOP)[20] 11 Germany (Official German Charts)[21] 7 Ireland (IRMA)[22] 1 Italy (FIMI)[23] 13 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[24] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[25] 1 New Zealand (Listener)[26] 2 Norway (VG-lista)[27] 1 South Africa (Springbok)[28] 15 Spain (PROMUSICAE)[29] 10 UK Singles (OCC)[30] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[31] 14 US Cash Box Top 100[32] 11 Year-end charts Chart (1966) Rank Australia (Kent Music Report)[33] 80 Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 90 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[35] 8 US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[36] 154 The tax man's taken all my dough, And left me in my stately home, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. And I can't sail my yacht, He's taken everything I've got, All I've got's this sunny afternoon. Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze. I got a big fat mama trying to break me. And I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime In the summertime In the summertime My girlfriend's run off with my car, And gone back to her ma and pa, Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty. Now I'm sitting here, Sipping at my ice cold beer, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. Help me, help me, help me sail away, Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay. 'Cause I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime In the summertime In the summertime Ah, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze. I got a big fat mama trying to break me. And I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime In the summertime In the summertime Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Davray/Carlin Music Corp. This is a great song, and more than likely one of the first Kinks songs I ever heard. I would have known this song before or knew who the Kinks were, or that this was their song. This song was extremely successful and also has the honour of knocking the Beatles Paperback Writer off the top spot. The descending musical pattern is the perfect sound and feel for this rich fellow whose life is, or has been sliding down. The interesting thing to me is, although the song has the descending pattern, and the lyric of things going very wrong for the protagonist, for me it has always been a relaxing feel good kind of song, that makes me smile as soon as I hear it. Interestingly although we are supposed to not like this guy, I have no particular dislike for him. Although I know that we have the lines "My girlfriend's run off with my car, And gone back to her ma and pa, Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty." I have never read too much into that... when I was younger it didn't necessarily mean any kind of abuse, and when I was older my ex-wife had spread tall tales, that were in no way true that I had been abusive .... essentially she was just trying to justify her actions, and damage my name in the small town we lived in at the time ... So although we are supposed to dislike this guy greatly, I never really felt any particular animosity towards him. I've never really disliked folks because they're rich, it seems kind of petty and pointless.... We open up in a D minor and roll around the chord sequence beautifully. This is so smooth. At the end of the chorus when we go into the full descending pattern, it is just beautiful. All the instrumentation just works perfectly. The piano and bass, with the help of some acoustic guitar just make this flow. The backing vocals do a wonderful job. I think there is a piano accordion in the background. Apparently Ray had a cold when he laid down the vocal, and wanted to do it again, but they ran out of time, and we get what we get here.... I would never have really noticed if I had not read about it. This is a fantastic song, and it has a feel and sound that makes it comforting and very special to me.
Pete Quaife's absence from the Kinks during this period, a tale in three videos: The earliest performance of this song, again from 'A Whole Scene', with The Kinks as a 3 piece as Pete had just been in his accident and there was no time to get a replacement:
A week or so later on Top Of The Pops (the earliest surviving footage of them from this show, although they'd appeared regularly on it since it began in 1964) featuring Quaife's replacement John Dalton making his debut (even before he'd played live!) with the group:
The promo video as posted by Mark above (this is a slightly different version with a longer intro though) of The Kinks in the snow, made for the European TV show 'Vibrato' in early 1967 and the only footage of this song to feature Quaife as he'd rejoined by this point:
And here's the earliest live footage of the song, from the Belgian 'Jazz Bilzen' festival in 1970. Colourised version of black and white footage:
